aching beauty

There's a kind of beauty that makes the roof of my mouth ache. Contracts the muscle fibres of my diaphragm to fill my lungs from bottom up. Sets up a tingling in my fingertips, a glad exhilaration in my deepest intelligence as it pulls me in, engages all my synapses.

I find it mostly in visual and material art. The soapstone sculptures of Elkana Ongesa. The pieces of Magdalene Odundo, world-renowned Kenyan ceramicist who was guest of honor at the just-concluded ALA in Vermont.

For the past four days, I've had the unbelievable privilege of daily conversations and encounters with Magdalene Odundo. Of listening to her talk about her work. Of sharing our experiences as Kenyans, artists, women. Of having her see me perform, hear me deliver papers, and pay me the highest tribute an artist can receive: genuine, heartfelt congratulations from a virtuoso, a trailblazer, a master in her field.